Toys”R”Us to Shut Down Operations in the U.S.

Toys”R”Us, which recently entered administration in the U.K., is conducting an orderly wind-down of its U.S. business and liquidation of inventory in all 735 stores in the country, including Puerto Rico.

Toys”R”Us is negotiating a potential transaction that could combine up to 200 of the company’s top-performing U.S. stores with its Canadian operations. The company is seeking court approval to implement the liquidation of inventory in all the U.S. locations, subject to a right to recall any stores included in the proposed Canadian transaction.

Toys”R”Us is also pursuing a going concern reorganization and a sale process for its Canadian and international operations in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. For Australia, France, Poland, Portugal and Spain, the company is considering such options as potential sales processes.

Dave Brandon, the chairman and CEO of Toys”R”Us, said, “I am very disappointed with the result, but we no longer have the financial support to continue the company’s U.S. operations. We are therefore implementing an orderly process to shutter our U.S. operations and will pursue going concern sales or reorganizations of certain of our international businesses, while our other international businesses consider their options.

“There are many people and organizations who have remained in our corner every step along the way. I want to thank our extraordinary team members who helped build Toys’R’Us into a global brand. I also want to express my appreciation for my colleagues on our board, who have continued to provide support to sustain the brand and our operations throughout the restructuring process. I would also like to thank our vendors, who we owe a great deal of gratitude to for their decades of support. This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families we have served for the past 70 years.”